Changes in the next 20 years (Positive)?

OK, i see alot of threads like "The world is going to end!", "A Draft is coming!", Or "A Dictatorship is in the future!"...Now lets think about some changes that we can benifit from in the next 20 years, Like i think marajuana will be decriminalized (or legilized) In most of, if not all of the country. I also see cars running on alternate fuels. What do you guys think?

 

i think we need to stop worshiping the automobile entirely. i believe when current means of propultions and fuels become impractical, as they inevitably at some point will, this may very well happen. private vehicules of some sort will of course still be probable where population density is just plain too low for public systems of any sort, but this is a much lower threashold then currently immagined and used as an excuse for some really backward headed existing policies.

i really do believe that running out of oil will be a good thing; a very good thing.

one thing, like the way everything that gets to be a bit over the top too much, well good, bad, or indefferent, the public consensus does get tired of things. and one very good thing for people to get tired of, and i believe they will, and i believe a LOT of positive chainges can and will come about as a resault of this, is all this 'privatisation' mania, that's been screwing up public infrastructure all over the world, especialy in the richest and most dominant nations, that america, primiarily, has been shoving down the throat of its friends and 'enimies' alike.

this is another thing that is going to be helped along by the demise of cheep oil.

of course that's the catch, you said 20 years, and it's anybody's guess wither this proccess will be far enough along to have that dramatic an efect within this time frame. it will almost certainly have begun and be well underway. with gas stations going out of buissiness everywhere. not all of them or all at once of course. but that will be one of the first signs of the really signifigant and perminent sea chainge. lots and lots of them, you'll be seeing just totaly abondoned, as the paved roads and parking lots for the most part eventualy will be as well. though i'd give the latter more like 60 to 80 years. in 50 though, most if not all, petrolium fueling stations will have gone bankrupt do to their wholesale costs exceeding 'what the market will bear'.

i could go on about the postive aspects of just this alone.

but i'd also like to mention energy policy shifts that are actualy likely to take place, even well before that condition forces them to.

as an example i look at history and what happend to the robber barrons of rail and steel, starting arround the end of world war one and culminating in conditions we experience today which had their fruition shortly after ww2.

well today's oil and automotive robber barrons are in that same position, riding high as rail and steel were in the lasse faire 1920s.

it's not all going to be tea and roses any more then auscwitz, but i do belive good will come of people waking up and understanding how their priorities are creating markets for the very disintigration of human rights that is going on today.

we may see signifigant shifts in positive directions of the core values of such societies, and forms of societies, as emerge from the already underway dislocations.

i'd like to expand on this some more but i see by how narrow the little slider over on the side has gotten that i'm already at risk of this reply being too long to be posted.
so i'll continue on another, perhapse another time. after someone else, so i won't be directly fallowing myself.

=^^=
.../\...

 

Each and every one of us must re-orient our way of
thinking towards living our day-to-day lives in harmony
with nature as opposed to changing everything for the
sole purpose of suiting our own selfish wants. Man is,
by and large, an extremely self-serving creature, and
the majority of them demonstrate this tendency in
every aspect of their daily lives. We rape the Earth
of it's resources; we take those resources and make
all kinds of things out of those resources; and then
we throw them back into the Earth in an undigestible
manner ...what kind of respect are we showing our planet?

With the advent of the "Technological Revolution" in
particular, Man has achieved an all-time high for the
disregard he shows the planet; as relating to the lack
of foresight the electronic manufacturers displayed
regarding the absence of a plan for what to do with
all the electronic waste their industry produces. In
Silicon Valley where I reside, it is no longer permissible
to put any more electronic waste into the ground at
all city dumps because there is so much there now that
it has reached super toxic levels. Yikes!
Talk about waste! The electronic industry calls an electronic device "obsolete" not when it is worn out and no longer functions ... they consider the devices no longer useful just because they've invented a newer, faster, smaller one. The old stuff still works just fine - but they deem it appropriate to throw it away because they say the latest thing is the best thing! The was I was raised,
we didn't throw something away until we couldn't
fix it anymore - and that way of thinking still seems
more sensible to me.

The technology we have available to us today is
absolutely astounding - were it not for the
technological advances, we wouldn't be able to
communicate with each other like we are on this
forum. I think if we can all utilize this ability to
communicate with others that are half way around
the world for the purpose of sharing knowledge and
experiences; aimed towards a mutual goal for the
good of all and for the good of the planet at some
level, then that's a cool and groovy thing. But, the
progress that Man has made from the Industrial
Revolution continuing on through the Technological
Revolution has come at a cost to the Earth that may
serve to be it's ultimate demise.

Progress is defined as: Advancement forward;
betterment; grow, increase with improvement;
the development of an individual or society in a
direction considered more beneficial than and superior
to the previous level. Developmental activity that
promotes the well-being of. To advance toward a
higher or better stage with improvement.

As relating to the "Progress of Man", it is written that
it took something like ten-thousand years for man to
progress from using a stone as a tool to coming up
with the idea to tie a stick onto that stone and now
having a far better, more useful tool. It has taken
just one-hundred years for man to progress from the
discovery and utilization of electricity to developing
and making thermo-nuclear weapons of destruction.
It can hardly be called "progress" to be inclined to
invent a weapon of destruction - it is really regression.

Sincere Regards, Michaela
______________________________________

"They will never make a perfect heart until they
make one that can't be broken."
....... The Wizard, "The Wizard of Oz"
______________________________________

 

well we've all got to realize, that the biggest threat currently, and forseeably, to the very web of life itself, is the excessive use of combustion, whether to propell transportation or generate electricity or anything else. so "alternative fuels" and "cleaner cars" aren't the real answers to anything. small improvements to assage our collective consciounces, instead of what we really need to be taking a long, hard and honest look at.

SELF dicipline is indeed the key to not completely destroying the web of life, which our own existence remains, and remains again forseeably, utterly dependent upon.

the level of carbon dumped into the atmosphere by heating our houses and cooking our food, might be reasonable if we limit the use of combustion to just that, and then the fuels for THAT comming from biomass, primarily in the form of methane, with the remaining solids then composted.

but for transportation and the energy to run our refrigerators and computers and the little people sized "trains" (and perhapse "people sized" is a bit alien to what most people are used to thinking of AS "trains" but this is what i'm talking about) which are likely to be all we're going to end up being able to afford besides walking and other human and animal powered means, this can and will come primarily from the combination of wind, solar and modest scale hydro.

(in the case of transportation powering, this will most often and likely involve methods of storing the energy thus created)

i only wish i were already living in and seeing that day.

and of course nothing, in a rational, considerate, and thoughtful culture, would be unlawful to POSSESS. though the banning of the sale, mass production and wholesale importation of SOME kinds of substances and objects may not be entirely unreasonable. objects such as guns and automobiles. which would still be perfectly lawful to possess, provided you made them yourself. which would inturn require aquiring the neccessary materials and skills to do so.

tools are another thing, the kind of REALLY big ticket hi-tec tools industry uses, could be barrowed, the use of, and places to use them, from/in, a kind of public lending library for them, such as can be found on many college campuses and even some military bases, that are what i call a craftufacturing center.

with windmills on every windy hilltop and every roof shingled with photovoltaics and every little flood control dam up in the hills equiped with hydro generators, we arn't going to need the coal fired automobiles which really would be the death of us as a species if we went that route. hopefully we'll have enough sense or enough lack of means, to go that coal fired automobile route.

as for pie in the sky tecnologies like nuclear and hydrogen, the devil, as they say, is in the details.

=^^=
.../\...

 

Themnax - a "craftufacturing center" - I really like that idea! And, windmills and solar power - I mean, we know how to harness the wind and the sun and turn them into power we can utilize - why doesn't our country make massive use of these resources as opposed to the oil thing?

And, I agree with you about the combustion engines thing, too. I sometimes stand back and watch all the traffic going by ... and most vehicles transporting just one person - what an enormous waste! Growing up in America during the fifties and sixties, though; that's what we learned - everybody has a car, and that's the way it is. And, it seems as though there has never been much effort put into planning or providing really ideal mass-transit to get to and from work/play except in the really big cities .... the emphasis has always been on "owning your own car" in America - it's the thing to do. In the town where I live, they do have public transportation in three forms - the city bus, the "light rail" train, and the real train. But the problem with taking any of these is that they've provided no easy or convenient way to catch them! Both trains can only be caught at stations that are not near any residential areas, so you've got to catch a bus to get you to the train, and it's not uncommon to have to transfer two or three times to facilitate that! You could have as much as a 45-minute wait for that bus, so by the time you finally make it to work via the bus/train rides, you could eat up several hours transit time due to the delays waiting and transfers, etc. - whereas, taking your own car gets you there in twenty or thirty minutes or less! As well, public transportation here is so expensive that, for me; it is literally cheaper to drive my own car because I have a diesel engine, and the car was given to me, so it's very easy for me to rationalize taking the car if I think selfishly without regard for the environment or others. But, more than anything, we learn from example as children, andit's what I grew up learning. But it's time to learn somethingdifferent. You are also correct, Themnax, about self-discipline ... Americans really need to realize that other countries don't operate the way we have as relating to the transportation thing. Americans (I must include myself, here too) are so spoiled, and really; their spoiled behavior is at everyone else's expense now at this point. This Global Warming thing is serious business, and the reins have got to be pulled in now - there simply is no more time left to dilly-dally around waiting until next year to do something about the pollution all the combustion is creating. And, America's got a leader who actually has knowingly contributed to the pollution problem by reducing restrictions on big industry, not increasing them! What the hell is going on, man? That's absolutely nuts!

Well, enough of my rambling and ranting on ... I just wanted to say that I agree with what you say, Themnax; we are of like mind ... maybe we should elect you for President, and get things going in the right direction!

Sincere Regards, Michaela
________________________________________

"They will never make a perfect heart until they
make one that can't be broken."
....... The Wizard, "The Wizard of Oz"
________________________________________

 

i agree that the use of cars (especially for individual transportation) could be greatly reduced, but i think the car in an invention that will be with us until... teleportation? now, i don't drive, and i never have. i get around by bike: a free, clean, healthy, enjoyable means of transportation.

i believe the battle to get sustainable energy sources into use is really a battle against capitalism. specifically, giants like the oil industry and the weapons industry make it nearly impossible for emerging technologies that might threaten their power. i think the public can be eased into accepting virtually any change (for better or worse), if those at the helm know what they're doing.

we have to think in these kinds of terms of doing "what's best" for the masses because you can't rely entirely on the goodwill of individuals. for every environmentally aware, caring individual, there is an equally ignorant and selfish person to combat. the issue needs real leadership and a clear definition of its purpose.

no single factor can be blamed for the current problem, but rather a tangled web of related factors: apathy, misinformation, corporate greed, capitalism, the military industrial complex, conspicuous consumption, denial of human nature through religion, etc.

i don't know what kind of catalyst could shift people away from this psychological rut but all i can say is it won't be fear. fear drives people to conservative choices and makes them latch onto what they have always trusted. we need something that will encourage people to expand their minds and accept their own flaws as part of their inherrent nature. the only thing i know that can do these things is a well guided LSD experience.


peace